Five women incarcerated at Louisville Metro Corrections were sent to the hospital this morning following suspected overdoses, according to corrections officials.
A press release states that three of the five have returned to the jail and the other two women are expected to return later today.
Metro Corrections assistant director Steve Durham says another five women are being monitored for suspected drug use.
Durham said the substance used is still unknown. He also said officials have not confirmed how it got into the jail.
An investigation is underway, and the canine unit from the Louisville Metro Police Department has been called in, according to the press release.
Metro Corrections is facing a staff shortage that has caused increasing issues at the facility.
In a press release from Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police president Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr., he called what is happening at LMDC “yet another failure” of Mayor Greg Fischer.
“The director of LMDC [Dwayne Clark] is like the mayor, clueless on how to fix the situation,” Perdue wrote in the release.
He then offered his support to Daniel Johnson, FOP Lodge 77 President, and the people he represents in their efforts to “bring change to LMDC” and improve their working conditions.
Johnson said that while the staff shortage doesn’t make situations like Friday morning’s more common, it does make them more difficult to respond to.
